The Visitor

Chapter 3

"Astral, where'd you put my duel disk!?" Yuma screamed from the attic room as he hastily got dressed in his school uniform.

Astral, who was sitting on his bed under the attic room and arranging his own deck, rolled his dual-colored eyes. He was twelve years old and practically a genius at his age. "I didn't put them anywhere, Yuma. Ask Akari, maybe she knows. You were with her last time you had it."

Yuma, age 13, swung down the rope right by the steps that led to his room and took off running as soon as his feet hit the ground. Astral watched him with a smile and a shake of his head. He himself didn't attend the school Yuma had to go to (by law), so he never experienced the scrambling struggle of sleeping through the alarm and almost being late. For Yuma, that was a constant reality. It didn't help that Astral seemed incapable of yelling into his ear or shaking him. Heck, it would help if Astral just dumped him on the floor to wake him up! For some reason, he didn't.

Astral looked at the picture of Mirai and Kazuma that hung on the wall and asked them to help Yuma get through the day from wherever they were. They disappeared when he and Yuma were still young. When he closed his eyes, Astral could still remember waking up one morning with a cold and going to his parents' room only to find them missing. Worse yet, the bed sheets were crumpled and messily spread on the bed, as if there was a struggle and they lost. He still heard himself screaming and crying until everyone in the house came running to see what was wrong. His vision went red as soon as he started freaking out.

Or was that blood? It was still a mystery.

There had been a month-long search from their family and Yuma's small group of friends, but it was only a week-long search with the police involved. It apparently only took a week until the police gave up. 

Astral snapped out of his dream-like daze when he heard Yuma calling that he was leaving. The alien flew downstairs and gave Yuma a hug as usual, and as usual, the boy returned the gesture even though he was running late. "Be careful," he whispered in his ear as usual. He always had a feeling that Yuma was going to be taken from him in one form or another ever since Kazuma and Mirai disappeared.

"Don't worry, I will," Yuma replied. They broke away, and Astral was left watching as he raced against the clock to get to school.

"He's gonna get in big trouble one day," Akari, now a grown woman, groaned from her place at the doorway. She was wearing her slick biker gear; she tended to head to work by motorcycle.

"He won't," Astral replied calmly. "He's fast. By the way, did you find his duel disk?"

"Yeah, he left it on my desk." She walked past him with her biking gear on. "Well, I'm gonna be chasing after a scoop. Take care of Grandma, will you?"

"I will."

With that, the young woman tore through the streets. Astral closed the door and got started with the chores.

~.~.~

Yuma slid into his seat, huffing and puffing, just as the bell rang and the teacher closed the door. Kotori gave him the usual "you just made it" look, which was met with a grin. Kotori opened her mouth to speak, but the teacher called class in session before she could say what she wanted to say.

Throughout class, Yuma couldn't help but notice the worried look on Kotori's face and Tetsuo's empty seat. While the teacher's back was turned, the boy quickly wrote a note and passed it to her.

"Something wrong?"

Kotori quickly looked up to see if the teacher was watching. He wasn't. She quickly scribbled her reply.

"Tetsuo's sister called this morning and said he was missing."

Yuma read the note, his eyes widening. He didn't remember receiving a call. Maybe he missed it.